Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth to talk about the discussion paper that we prepared, titled The value of volunteering. This document canvasses the changing nature of volunteering in Australia. It looks at the many challenges and the issues that organisations and community and welfare sectors face as they find it increasingly difficult to attract and retain volunteers.

As a member of the committee I was fortunate enough, along with many other committee members, to spend some genuine time, talking with the volunteers and representatives who rely on volunteers at a roundtable discussion in Sydney earlier this year. It was this consultation process that formed the foundation for developing the discussion paper. It really revealed that the rates and patterns of volunteering have changed significantly over the past decade.

It also gave members of the committee a valuable insight into Australia’s volunteer profile. As members before me have said, the Australian Bureau of Statistic figures suggest that more than 30 per cent of people in Australia are volunteers. These volunteers contributed a total of 713 million hours of unpaid work to the Australian economy. The economic value of volunteering has been estimated at around $42 billion per annum. The time donated by volunteers to the welfare services, in particular, equates to $27.4 billion per year.

We noted that Australians participate in a range of volunteering activities, including fundraising, preparation and serving of food, teaching and providing information as well as management and committee work. The majority of Australians put up their hand to volunteer simply to help others or to help their communities. However, volunteers also participate for personal satisfaction, for social contact, to learn new skills and to gain work experience. The paper also identifies challenging trends and changing trends in volunteering

One of the most significant changes in trends is in relation to the increase in the number of young people—those aged 18 to 24 years—who now participate in volunteering. Over the past decade, the number of young people volunteering has increased from 17 per cent to 32 per cent, and this is certainly an interesting demographic shift when you consider that most people who volunteer are in the 35- to 44-year age group, followed by those aged 45 to 50. The trend seems to be that young people are turning more towards environmental and overseas aid organisations rather than considering volunteering in a role with more traditional community or welfare organisations. There seems to have been a considerable shift of volunteering by young people in the corporate sector also, with a growing trend towards corporate social responsibility.

This discussion paper raises many contemporary issues around volunteering and the way Australian people participate. I believe the discussion paper will foster healthy debate around the many challenges and changing trends facing those organisations that rely on the volunteers for their day-to-day activities. I know that in my own electorate of Franklin volunteers play a significant role, particularly across the welfare and community sectors. I want to take this opportunity to mention one, the Loui’s food van, which plays an integral role in assisting families and young children in the greater Hobart area. Last year alone the volunteers who work with Loui’s food van provided food, companionship and information and facilitated access to referral services to more than 11,000 homeless and disadvantaged people. This is in one year. It is run by the Society of St Vincent de Paul; they are a great organisation, helping many disadvantaged people in my electorate.

My electorate also has many other volunteer organisations and to list them all would take quite some time, so it is not my intention to do that. But I have been approached by many of the community volunteer organisations asking for assistance and asking if I can help them attract volunteers. I have, for the first time, put a notice in my newsletter for a particular organisation—the Clarence Community Volunteer Service—calling for volunteers to try to give them some support. I truly believe that as a nation we really cannot afford to lose this precious volunteer base. Volunteers are an essential linchpin to the continuation and delivery of vital services across the community and welfare sectors particularly. The role of volunteers in the Australian society is a valuable one. Volunteers contribute to building social capital, to sustaining communities and promoting social inclusion. There is no doubt that the Australian society benefits from those who volunteer their time and their expertise to organisations. New opportunities for volunteers are also emerging, and the standing committee recognises the challenges for the voluntary sector.

The committee also recognised the critical role for all tiers of government to ensure a dynamic, innovative and sustainable volunteer sector for the future. But overwhelmingly, the standing committee recognises the valuable contribution that volunteers make to society and to the economy. I put on record my appreciation for all of those people who volunteer in Australia, and particularly in my electorate of Franklin. I am sure the many people who benefit from those hours that they volunteer are extremely pleased that they do so. I commend this discussion paper to the House and, in doing so, I wish to thank the chair of the committee and the committee support team for their valuable work in preparing this paper. I commend the discussion paper to the chamber.

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